Rob Biesenbach's Blog, page 11

Emily Basteen, Feeding America

In the last session on the last day of our conference, Rob Biesenbach delivered an incredibly engaging and interactive presentation. Rob used relatable examples, understood nuanced questions and even picked up on industry jargon; he clearly specifically prepared for our audience, which made his session that much more impactful for attendees.

The post Emily Basteen, Feeding America appeared first on Rob Biesenbach.

10 Reasons Your Panel Discussion Sucks

I’ve seen a ton of panel discussions, and according to my totally unscientific observation, most of themare deadly boring.

I was reminded of this yesterday when I got to see the rare good panel at a conference I’m attending (and where I’m also speaking).

Why Do So Many Panels Suck?

The big problem with panelsis that the accountability for success is too diffuse. Panelists don’t feel the same degree of responsibility that they’d feel if they were presenting on their own.

I was asked about pan...

How to Deliver a Successful Ignite Talk in 10 Steps

So you’ve accepted the challenge and agreed to do an Ignite talk. And now the terror sets in: what have I gotten myself into?Relax. I did my first one this spring and it was a fun, thoughtime-consuming, challenge. Here are my top 10 tips on how to deliver a successful Ignite talk.

What Is an Ignite Talk?

Just to review, an Ignite talkis where you have five minutes to deliver a presentation, and you must do it with exactly 20 slides. Here’s the tricky part: the slides advance automatically eve...

5 Fundamental Presentation and Public Speaking Tips

A couple of weeks ago Ihad the opportunity to sit down with acclaimed executive speech coach Patricia Frippfor an hour-long chat about public speaking skills and how to be a better communicator.

Part of her Fripp Virtual Training program, we covered the landscape, fromrehearsal techniques to listening skills to my star turn playing a cat coughing up a hairball on stage. (Yes, there’s a lesson in everything.)

You can watch the video here or click the embed. Below the video I captured answers...

The Things He Carried: My Dad and the War in Vietnam

With the approach Thursday of the second anniversary of my father’s death, I’ve felt a sort of vague, tired lethargy that I recall from last year, too.

Coincidentally or not, I just finished readingThe Things They Carried, the beautiful and heartbreaking book ofthe Vietnam War, and that’s stirred up a lot of thoughts and emotions.

Dad never really talked about his year in Vietnam, and we never really asked about it. But I’ve always been curious about what he and millions of young people like...

Writer’s Process? Real Writers Write Anytime, Anywhere

Oh, the storied “writer’s process.”

Writers, like actors, often bring elaborateritual and routine to their craft. We may favor a certain time of day or a specific location or require accompaniments like coffee or tea or music or silence.

Everything has to be “just so” in order for the creativity to flow.

But in the real world we don’t always have the luxury of choosing the time and place where we write.

Writing Amid Chaos

I was reminded of this recently when I was working on a major client project...

On Assignment: Goodbye to Summer

In better times.

When I got married I became an honorary Alaskan, and for the past four summers we’d go up there in late July for the salmon run. This year we thought it prudent to skip the trip since we’re moving in August.

And it’s a good thing we did, becauseI am now in the midst of a month-long, all-hands-on-deck client emergency that’s swallowing up almost all my time.

Life in the War Room

It’s 10-to-12-hour days, shut off in a windowless conference room with five other people, hashing out s...

3 Tips for Public Speakers: 2 Smart, 1 Dumb

If you want to learn to be a better presenter, be careful who you listen to. There’s a ton of advice for public speakers out there, and not all of it is good. In fact, much of it is outdated and just plain dumb.

I was reminded of this yesterday when three interesting blog posts came through my feed offering tips for public speakers. Let’s start with the good pieces of advice.

1. Avoid the Dull, Boring Opener

We’ve all been there. A speaker comes out and spends the first five minutes telling us w...

My Visit to the 9/11 Memorial Museum

The “last column.”

A couple of weeks ago I was in New York on business and I went to seethe new 9/11 Memorial Museum. It was, of course, a deeply powerful and moving experience. They did an amazing job of capturing the stories of that day.

Not everyone will be ready to relive that awful time in such visceral detail, but for those who are, I highly recommend it. I’ve read that many New Yorkers are choosing not to go, for various reasons. But for those of us who saw the events unfold only on TV,...

Why Do Good People Give Bad Speeches? 7 Lame Excuses

I still don’t get it. Why do good, smart people still give bad speeches and presentations? It boggles the mind.

It’s not like we haven’t been shown how it’s done. Examples of great speeches abound, from Martin Luther Kingto Steve Jobs tothe latest TED Talks. But for some reason, we don’t absorb the obvious lessons.

We step up to the podium and subject audiences to Death by PowerPoint: dense, wordy slides, unfocused content, lackluster delivery, and a multitude of other presentation sins.

One of...